


Maybe tonight I’ll miss you more

by smaragdbird



Category: Neverwinter Nights
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bickering, M/M, Old Married Couple, Sand POV, not that Duncan or Sand would ever admit it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:20:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28099842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: Sand is irritated. The ale at Crossroad Keep is merely adquate and the stew not as good as it used to be in the Sunken Flagon.Oh, and despite Neverwinter being evacuated Duncan is nowhere to be found.But really, it's the first two things that have Sand in such a bad mood, not the last. Not the last one at all.
Relationships: Duncan Farlong/Sand
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Maybe tonight I’ll miss you more

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Itylien](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itylien/gifts).



> I had a blast writing this, because I've been shipping them ever since I played the game and everything you wrote in your letter, I whole-heartedly agree with ^_^
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it

Sand was irritated and worse yet, he didn’t know why he was irritated. Something was rubbing him the wrong way, leaving him restless and moody, but he couldn’t put his finger on what was causing it. The fences of Crossroads Keep where fine, Duncan’s niece, and that was what she would always be to him no matter how many other titles she collected, had done a great a job. 

With the exception of the tavern perhaps. Sal was a decent barkeeper, at least when he had worked under Duncan, but now Sand found the ale somewhat lacking and the food not quite as good as it had been in Neverwinter.

That had to be it, he thought. He was missing a good drink and something decent to eat. Not the worst reason to be in a bad mood. Nothing that a short trip to Neverwinter couldn’t change except that Neverwinter was being evacuated. 

“Someone piss in your ale?” 

Bishop’s company was not in any way conductive to bettering Sand’s mood, if anything it was the opposite. Duncan had liked to keep him around but Duncan had a bad taste in company, aside from Sand himself and perhaps that niece of his. How he had managed to bear the kind of patrons that the Sunken Flagon had attracted would remain a mystery for the ages.

“My ale is perfectly fine”, Sand said in a tone that clearly stated that he wished for neither conversation nor company.

“Sure”, Bishop grinned obnoxiously. 

Seeing Bishop and Sand at the same table seemed all the incentive Neeshka needed to come over as well. “Hey, did you know Sal made stew today? Been a long time since I had a decent stew.”

Decent was not the word Sand would use. Compared to the stew Duncan made, it wasn’t even adequate.

“Oh, here you are”, Duncan’s niece joined them as well, balancing a bowl of stew, a spoon and two tankards. Before any disaster could happen, Neeshka grabbed both tankards and sat them down on the table, one in front of her and the other where Duncan’s niece was sitting down.

“Not bad”, she said after her first spoonful. “Though Duncan’s was better.”

At least she had taste. Not enough wits to keep herself out of trouble, but having taste was something. More than Sand could say for her uncle.

“How come Sal is running the tavern here anyway?” Neeshka asked. “Why didn’t you ask Duncan?”

“I did”, she replied. “He didn’t want to. Said the Sunken Flagon was his home and that he wouldn’t give up that easily.”

“Maybe he got sick of your company”, Bishop drawled, keeping his eyes on Sand. “That’s why he hasn’t come here after the evacuation either.”

She rolled her eyes, but something about Bishop’s comment hit home. Duncan not wanting to leave the Sunken Flagon for Crossroad Keep had been short-sighted but somewhat understandable. Duncan not joining them now that Neverwinter was burned down and the Sunken Flagon with it? His niece was here, Sal was here…it made no sense. If West Harbour hadn’t been burned down, too, Sand would’ve guessed that Duncan had gone to his estranged brother but he had joined the army as a ranger. 

Where was Duncan?

Sand swallowed the rest of his ale in one go and stood up. “Excuse me.” Suddenly the tavern seemed too loud, the atmosphere too heavy for him to breathe. Fresh air, that was what he needed.

It was quieter outside but that wasn’t the cure he hoped for. The stillness and coldness of the evening was just as grating as the noisy tavern had been. Besides, Crossroad Keep wasn’t exactly aesthetically pleasing. There was nothing to take his mind off the desperate situation they were in.

Eventually he settled for walking along the battlements, taking in the landscape around the castle as the sun was sinking and darkness swallowed the land. Somewhere the shadow king’s army was waiting for them. Neverwinter had fallen, what chance did they realistically have?

At least he was here, in the middle of it all, instead of being another helpless refugee, playballs of the forces around them.

Steps behind him made Sand tense but when he turned his head, it was Duncan’s niece who was approaching him.

“I miss him, too”, she said apropos of nothing, standing shoulder to shoulder with Sand. 

“I don’t miss anyone”, Sand replied. That couldn’t be it. So what if he had seen Duncan every day for the last couple of years? His tavern had been right across the street from Sand’s shop, it had made sense to go there for a drink or a meal. And if Duncan had come to Sand’s place after closing up and spent those nights in Sand’s bed, that was unrelated to any mood swings Sand might have experience lately. 

“My father was always distant. I like to think he loves me, but if he does he’s never shown it. Duncan’s so open with his affection, it feels like warming your face in the sun after a long winter”, she continued as if he hadn’t said anything. 

“Could he have gone to your father?” Sand asked despite telling himself that he didn’t need to know where Duncan was. He didn’t miss his affection or his company or, all gods and astral planes help them, his singing.

“West Harbour burned down first, remember? If anything, it should’ve been the other way around”, she said, her hand that was resting on top of the railing, balled into a fist. “What if he didn’t come here because…”

She didn’t finish her sentence but she didn’t need to. What if Duncan was dead? Everything in Sand rebelled against the very thought of it. Duncan couldn’t be dead, he was just not here, but he would come. Duncan loved his niece, and he wouldn’t miss a chance to reprimand Sal for the way he had run the tavern.

A sob pulled him from his spiralling thoughts. Next to him she had pressed a hand over her mouth to keep the noise down but he could still see her shoulders shake. Awkwardly he put an arm around her shoulders, because that’s what Duncan would’ve done.

“Sorry”, she said, still crying, “Just, I lost Amie, and then West Harbour burned down, again, and both times it was my fault, and then Shandra…and now Duncan might be… and I don’t know where my father is either.”

Sand wished he could help her but his strength was transmutation not divination and scrying took quite a bit of knowledge. Maybe he should try regardless if only to give her some piece of mind or a plan to action. Perhaps Duncan had merely gotten drunk in some inn and forgotten all about them in the depths of his drinking. And if he was in trouble then they could go and rescue him. He refused to entertain that there was another outcome.

When he mentioned it to her, her eyes went wide. “Could you? I thought you needed something personal or at least a picture.”

Sand’s hand went automatically to his gloves. They had been Duncan’s once, but Duncan had foisted them off on Sand when he had injured his hand tinkering around his shop with one thing or another. In return Sand had given him a periapt that protected Duncan from poisons, alcohol included, on a chain which was enchanted to protect his health. Neither of which Sand had ever mentioned to Duncan. He had expected him to pawn it at some point, but to Sand’s surprise, Duncan had worn the amulet each time they had ended up in bed together.

“That won’t be a problem”, he told her without elaborating. In Sand’s experience, people tended to draw the wrong conclusions from the most meaningless gestures. “Although I should tell you that, for my many talents, divination is not my usual area of interest. If it does not work, you cannot draw any conclusions from that.”

She nodded though Sand could see apprehension and hope war within her. If it turned out that Duncan was just drunk in some tavern, Sand would kill him. In fact, Sand might kill Duncan anyway for not coming straight to Crossroad Keep.

“Should I have called you Uncle Sand?” She asked as they started walking again. 

“Excuse me?” Sand almost stopped.

“I mean you and Duncan, you are together right? You bicker like an old married couple.”

“We are passing acquaintances.”

She gave him a strange look. “Sure.”

Sand felt the urge to explain to her in great detail how much he and Duncan were not anything like that but instead directed their steps towards the library. It would be better if he checked the scrying spell once more before attempting it.

/

Darkness. Sand saw nothing but darkness. His eyes were closed and his hands rested folded in his lap, the tips of his fingers stroking circles across his gloves. He had done everything right, he was sure of it, yet there was nothing to see. 

It wasn’t as if he had recited the spell from memory, they had gone to the library and he had checked thoroughly before casting. It wasn’t working due to a lack of talent either and while divination had never been the focus of his studies, Sand knew how to do magic.

Moreover, he could feel that it was working. So why wasn’t he seeing anything?

“Sand?” her voice was so soft and hesitant that he almost didn’t hear her despite her sitting next to him.

He dug his fingernails into the gloves, desperate for a spark, for anything to happen. A smell, a sound, anything that would give him a clue where Duncan was. Sand could feel the continued flow of magic like a hammer behind his forehead. It was building up the longer he kept the spell up, but something compelled Sand to keep trying. He had to know where Duncan was.

“Sand!” This time her voice was alarmed and his concentration was disrupted when she grabbed his arm. “You’re bleeding.”

He was, he realised, though compared to his headache a nosebleed was nothing. 

“I’m fine”, he replied, wiping the blood away with his sleeve.

“Did you see anything?” 

“Nothing”, Sand said and watched her cast down her eyes.

“Well, you said it might not work.”

“Yes.” He had said that, hadn’t he? Perhaps he had been wrong, perhaps it had not worked. What did he know about divination, about scrying?

“Knight-Captain!” The soldier who stormed into the library looked as if she had urgent news and for once Sand welcomed an interruption. “Men! At the gate!”

In an instant she turned from Duncan’s lost little niece into their fearless leader. It was like watching a phoenix rise from the ashes. “What men? Do they belong to the Shadow king?”

“No, they claim to be your kin.”

She exchanged an incredulous look with Sand, then they both followed the soldier to the gate. Night had set in completely by now but the soldiers at the gate had brought enough torches to illuminate the two men they had surrounded. 

Duncan was one of them, looking as if he had not so much tracked through the wilderness as dragged through the mud. And the other one was…

“Look who I found”, Duncan grinned, tilting his head towards his brother.

“You did not find me”, Daeghun’s tone was pure poison. “I was on my way back here when I stumbled upon him.”

“Literally”, Duncan added cheerfully. “Good luck it was, too. I was hopelessly lost in the woods. Though your boots hurt.”

“Next time don’t wear an invisibility amulet”, Daeghun replied.

She clearly couldn’t help it anymore. She rushed forward and embraced her father, who stood there awkwardly for a moment, arms hanging uselessly by his side before he hugged her back. Not before Duncan mimed the act of raising his arms and holding her close though.

“I’m glad you’re back”, she mumbled against his shoulder.

“Me, too”, Daeghun replied with a pat to her back.

No sooner than she had let go of her father, she was already hugging Duncan. “I missed you, too.”

“That’s good to hear, lass. Maybe you can protect me from the angry elf that’s staring at me as if he’d like to set me on fire.”

Over her shoulder, Duncan looked at Sand, showing no sign that he recognised the grief he had caused his niece. Of course Sand was livid. The girl had been through a lot lately. And Sand had come to care for her.

“I don’t know any fire spells”, Daeghun replied. 

Sand marched up to Duncan, feeling his skin crawl with the kind of anger he hadn’t felt in decades. “Where did you get an invisibility amulet?” He managed to ask instead of transforming into a golem and shaking Duncan until he recovered his wits.

“Looted it from your store of course”, Duncan replied as if Sand should’ve come to that conclusion already. “That Shadow King sounds like a real piece of work. Thought I’d better stay hidden from unfriendly eyes.”

“That amulet also hides you from friendly eyes!”

“Yes, I figured that when my brother stepped on me.”

“We thought you were dead. Do you have any idea how your niece felt? Her father missing, her home burned down, and now her uncle dead? You should’ve looted my shop more carefully than that!”

“Well, it was on fire at the time.” Duncan shrugged.

There were too many emotions bubbling up inside Sand. Perhaps that was how Qara felt because setting something on fire felt very tempting right now. Instead, Sand took the only reasonable action and grabbed Duncan’s face to pull him into a kiss.

“Did you miss me?” Duncan asked with an obnoxious smirk on his face. 

“Not at all”, Sand replied and kissed him again since that was the best method of removing said smirk from Duncan’s face. Also, strangling Duncan like he deserved would probably upset his niece even more.

“Passing acquaintances, eh?” She asked with the same kind of infuriating, knowing grin that Duncan had. Adopted or not, she clearly belonged to this family.

“Barely even that”, Duncan confirmed cheerfully.

“They’ve been acquainted for more than twenty years”, Daeghun added as if he knew anything about anything.

“Lies and slander”, Sand replied though maybe, perhaps he could see how keeping a hold on Duncan’s hand might give them the wrong idea. 

Oh well, he and Duncan would have to set things straight after the defeat of the Shadow King.


End file.
